Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Today is a grand occassion... the launch of the new e-book "Cool2Cast" - a collaboration between Tiffany Windsor and Bella Crafts Publishing. "Cool2Cast" is filled with tips, techniques and project ideas for jewelry, home décor and other embellishments using Cool2Cast, as well as a gorgeous gallery of project images to inspire you.

I have been a follower of Tiffany Windsor for years over on Cool2Craft and I love her Cool2Cast casting medium. I am thrilled to announce that I am participating in a blog hop to celebrating the "Cool2Cast" book launch starting today, that goes through November 7th! Please drop by each day - and look for me to be joining the fun on November 6th.

The following is a list of participants for our blog hop with their names and websites. All you need to do is click on the participant’s website and that will take you directly to their website where you will find more information about this fabulous new book!

ALSO... Tiffany is hosting a huge giveaway on her website { www.cool2craft.com} that you’re not going to want to miss!!!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Greetings Friends! It's the last Monday of October and time for another Deflecto USA Ambassador Design Team Challenge. This month we've set off in another direction, and today's project is just one of many I have or our "Clips, Grips and Tags... Oh My" Challenge. This month's challenge is perfect for the upcoming holiday season which is fast approaching and starts with Halloween.

I don't have children {yet} and don't normally dress up as Halloween falls during the big annual international boat show here in SoFL. This means my hubs and I are usually working doubletime prior to and during the event {and it falls over Halloween every year}. But I do LOVE to wear festive head adornments that are easy on and off... and I set out to make a fabulous Halloween Fascinator using oly*fun™fabric, a headband, tulle, lace, seasonal floral/feather picks, Beacon Fabri-Tac adhesive,and some fun metal tags from Deflecto.

I have fallen in love with oly*fun™ and have been using it for all kinds of projects. CLICK HERE to read more new fabric from Fairfield World. oly*fun™ comes in a fun assortment of 18 colors which makes creating pretty much anything possible... especially when it comes to making costumes. CLICK HERE to jump over to see some fabulous costumes created using this fun fabric.

To begin, I sketched a bat pattern template on some cardstock, cut out and traced onto a couple colors of oly*fun™ using a white pencil.

I cut out a variety of circles to create a "one-eyed" bat, two layers of my bat in black and one in purple that was slightly larger to give some added detail.

Now to prepare my layers for gluing. I made three layers thick for extra stability and because I will be embedding the Deflecto metal tags in between the layers so that my wings will fly and I can mount bat vertically on my headband.

I've also dismantled a purple tulle fairy skirt from the Dollar Tree to add some additional details. One circle is the last layer for an added touch of whimsy.

Using Beacon Fabri-Tac adhesive, I glued down the layers of my one-eyed bat and then moved on to adhere the black front to the purple center layer. I set aside the other black bat which will be the backside to conceal all of my support mechanisms inside.

Before I add the support system, I have added some tulle fringe to the edges of the wings... it's whimsical, girly and OF COURSE - purple!! I glued gathered strips along the edge using Fabri-tac - all of which will be hidden after final assembly.

This project features the Deflecto Flexible Sign Dangler Item Number 20014, which are 6" flexible thin silver metal strips with an adhesive tab on each end. Twist it, bend it, flex it and add a sign where needed. They come in a 20 piece package. I've bent and wrapped a couple around my headband as supports when I mount my bat vertically, and there will be more concealed within the layers of fabric.

These strips are be perfect to add structure and stability for my batty fascinator - keeping it's wings in flight without sagging. I left a small pocket open in the bottom of the eye to insert the tabs mounted to the headband when I'm ready to wear.

Now I have a little discoloration in a couple places that are from the adhesive seeping through the fabric. Thinking quick on my feet... I knew exactly what to do. ADD BLING!!!

I grabbed my black soot Ranger Distress Stickles and started adding glittery detail to my bat and concealing the problem areas in the process.

This turned out to be a happy accident as the detail added personality to "Ms. Bat". I had to let this sit overnight to dry, but it was so worth the wait.

Batty Fascinator... all ready to wear!

I wrapped some black tulle and lace around the base of my headband and gently slid the bat onto the mounts. When I'm ready to wear, I will remove the adhesive tabs and press them down for permanent adhesion. I've gathered my resin skull pendant choker, spooky spiderweb cape and the seasonal floral/feather picks to add height and drama to my "Batty Fascinator". I tried it out on a test run to plan my updo... all I can say is that it's going to be so AMAZING on Halloween. CLICK HERE to jump over to the Deflecto Craft Facebook Page to see more of the teams creations to inspire your holiday creating and entertaining using Deflecto Clips, Grips and Tags.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

With Halloween just around the corner - I am re-sharing a quick and easy jewelry piece I created using Amazing Mold Putty and cast in Amazing Casting Resin!I have this Halloween tombstone decor I picked up at the Dollar Tree a while back. It's a nice size and it has a cool spooky skull detail on the front. I thought this would make a great pendant to wear for the Halloween season. I also wanted to show you in REAL-TIME {un-edited} how I created the mold and casting of my spooky jewels.

PART ONE...Creating the skull pendant centerpiece.Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing.

PART TWO...Creating the outer border mold for pendant.Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing.

PART THREE...Demolding each part and then creating composite mold.Please CLICK HERE if you have trouble viewing video.

I took a worn emory board and sanded away some areas to let the gorgeous purple resin peek through the distressed metallic finish. To complete - I drilled a small hole and wire wrapped a small hanger with a bead finding, and strung on a ready made Darice Necklace cord... this beauty is "READY to WEAR"!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Welcome to another special Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop - introducing you to a NEW product... Hebe Cord by Sullivans USA - manufacturer of innovative sewing and quilting products, floss and specialty threads. Thirteen Designer Crafts Connection Designers accepted the challenge of creating with this new cording. With Christmas coming right around the corner, I knew exactly how to put this product to the test... making tassels for my handmade paper ornaments.

Sullivans USA provided me two gorgeous colors of Hebe Cord - a light powder blue and a gorgeous teal blue. Hebe cord can be used in various ways such as knitting, crocheting, knotting and tatting... or macrame {remember that}!

Hebe Cord is 1.0mm in a 25 yard skein and is available in 31 beautiful colors. With the variety of colors, you can create in your favorite team or school colors and perfect for braided friendship bracelets.

The Hebe Cord has a fine weave, though is sturdy and satiny. Right away I'm loving that this cord doesn't unravel - which is great for making tassels. I love to make my own tassels for my handmade ornaments. I can customize the color and adjust size to match ornament scale. My main issue... making tassels from embroidery floss is a bit challenging to keep the threads neat and tidy as it does unravel - causing me a lot of frustration in wasted time and supplies to compensate for double backtrimming.

Before beginning winding my tassels, I needed to get the cord secure onto a card to keep it neat and unknotted. I loosely wound it around a flattened toilet paper tube from my paper recycling bin.

I gathered a few supplies: Hebe Cord; 1/8" satin ribbon hanger; beads and bead endcaps; patterned paper folded into ornament; adhesive to secure folded paper shape; scissors, and handmade tassel making template cut from cardboard/chipboard. I'm making a tassel for a larger lantern size ornament made from a 12" sheet of patterned paper. Living in South Florida - Christmas isn't always traditional red and green with Santa and his elves... around here it's a bit tropical. My patterned paper is a lovely glittered seashell pattern {my apologies I can't remember the make and it's not printed on the back}.

I cut a couple short strands of Hebe Cord to use for a hanger for the tassel and another to tie off the strands to make the rounded top. No measuring here - I just eyeball it. I just need the hanging part to be long enough to secure inside the lantern and the tie off to be long enough to blend in with the rest of the fringe when complete. I have knotches cut into my template to hold the cord in place while I'm wrapping.

I take the tie off section {which is approx. 12" long} and wrap around the top edge of my template and secure ends in knotch. Then I secure the fringe edge at the bottom of my template to leave my hand free to wrap cord evenly.

I wrap the cord around the template - not too loose and not too tightly about 25 to 30 times. Again, this is not a measured thing, I just keep wrapping until there seems to be enough strands to make a full tassel.

I gently pull through the tie off section and tie a knot off at the top of the wrapped section. This will form the hanger at the top of the tassel. I insert the second strand through the slit around strands, pull tight and knot to secure forming the poof at the top of the tassel. The template helps hold the strands in place keeping your hands free to tie knots.

With knots securely tightened it's now safe to cut strands at the bottom to remove from template. After removing from template, I pulled individual strands to tighten/adjust the strands at the top in the poof. This is where I find myself fussing about like I'm tying a ribbon bow.

I took the loose strands of the knot and snugly wrapped around to create a banded area below poof and tucked the loose ends inside the wrapped area. No need for glue and the knot is nicely concealed.

I prepared for final trimming by wrapping a small strip of paper around the strands, taping closed. I slid down to the bottom of the fringe and used edge as guide to backtrim edges flush. You can see in the photo that after all the handling so far {which was a lot of fussing to straighten the poof to my liking}, the Hebe Cord has not frayed one bit. AMAZING!!!

Using sharp scissors, I pinched the ends flat and cut flush at edge of paper wrapping. Tassel is complete and ready for finishing details.

At the top of the tassel I added a silver bead, pulling down over knot - craftily concealing the knot snugly inside.

Completed tassel is simply GORGEOUS!!!

I'm so thrilled with how my tassel has come out and it looks so rich and luxurious like the fancy expensive tassels you can buy. I look forward to converting all my tassels from embroidery floss to Hebe Cord!

Thanks so much for visiting! Continue on this special Designer Crafts Connection "Hebe Cord Challenge" Bloghop by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below to enjoy more ways to use the NEW Hebe Cord by Sullivans USA. Sb :)

Monday, October 6, 2014

Hello everyone! It's Monday and today you'll be getting two posts from me. First, I have been invited to join the Creative Blog Hop. I am honored to have been invited by my creative friend from the Anything But a Card Challenges team Lisette Baker {aka Mrs Beez}. Thank you so much for your kind words and praise! Lisette and I share a passion for paper, texture and dimensional projects - especially her attention to the little details!

I particularly love her holiday makes like this altered Christmas spool ornament {click here}. So today I will continue this by answering the following questions and introducing a couple artists too.

• • • • • • •

My project I'm sharing today is a recent creation resulting from a workshop taken with Eileen Hull learning all about her ATB {artist trading block} dies, and techniques making dimensional projects using embossing folders and dies {I have a lot of these, both which have been pretty neglected lately}. If the #PaprTrail3 tour is coming to your area - I highly recommend taking a workshop with Eileen!

With the holiday season approaching, I want to be putting them to use in making some fabulous dimensional gifts... like this embossed metal ATB box used as a faux planter box holding die cut metal flowers. Embossing and layering metal die cut flowers... I never considered it and I've got loads of floral dies and punches!!! I colored the leaves and bow with alcohol ink markers, but left the flowers silver - they are just so pretty and whimsical... and will never wilt - LOL!

Now for the questions...

1. What are you working on at the moment?

I am most at home with paper crafting, but I find I'm always stamping, molding and casting something. I am the creative team lead for Amazing Crafting Products and most projects scream for something 3-Dimensional. I just returned from a weeks vacation in Jamaica and I strategically snuck a bit of Amazing Mold Putty in my carry on so I could mold something special from my travels.

Here's a peek of my mold I captured. Its flat now, but I'm adding on a border so I can fill with resin and transform this into a special keepsake.

I'm also working on some projects that are outside of my passion for papercrafting - bringing me back to my love of sewing and handcrafted holiday creations.

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

I'm a junkie for any and all media - which could really send me off in a tangent in any direction. I'm always striving to include repurposed items into my creations. Reinventing something ordinary or discarded into something lovely is truly rewarding.

3. Why do you create?

I create because I have a muse that never stops. Creating is a necessary to me as eating or breathing... running a close second to my favorite pastime sleeping. I have been creatively inclined since a very young age, and now as an adult I have the privilege of sharing my knowledge as well as arting for sheer enjoyment.

4. How does your creative process work?

What a tough question... hmmm! Sometimes I've got a vision that I've scribbled down that will come to fruition through mixed media exploration. But I also love a challenge... give me a constrained set of supplies or a prompt and I'm off and running by the seat of my pants.

Now I will pass the baton and introduce a couple of my creative friends to you!

Please give a warm welcome to Tracy Alden, who blogs at Art Resurrected. She is a creative friend of mine who is talented in so many media - though she really shines with her hand crafted unique jewelry creations. One of my favorites is this custom spilled cocktail necklace that was mold/cast in resin and is certainly one-of-a-kind! She also creates amazing dimensional mixed-media pieces too like this altered papier maché book box... the contents just spill out so beautifully.

Next is my the super imaginative Sandra Strait of Life Imitates Doodles! We share a love of creatively experimenting... and the patience to see a project to fruition. Sandra is an expert with pencil, pen and brush as an illustrator and her zentangled inspired works are a must see. I was inspired instantly by her creative stylings and have enjoyed watching her work evolve from the page into a 3-Dimensional reality. I have so many favorite work of hers I couldn't even choose just one - but I will point out that even a resin spill will be transformed into a one of her creative characters!

• • • • • • •

Tracy and Sandra... please continue "The Creative Bloghop" by answering the above questions in a blog post published next Monday (October 13th) and inviting a couple of other artists/crafters to continue the following week.

Lisette’s post you can find at the following link; and you can visit Ruth Levy {aka Lerusho} who tapped Mrs. Beez for THE CREATIVE BLOGHOP by clicking here.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Hello Everyone... I can't believe it's October already and FALL is arriving in some places {though it's still summer where I am}! It's a new month which brings a new Reader's Art Quest at Unruly Paper Arts. This month's challenge theme is "Harvest Bounty" which is perfect way to spend a little #Cre8time getting in the spirit of the season! I love the colors of fall - and creating using the burnt oranges, reds and browns of the season... that welcomes us to Halloween, then my FAVORITE holiday of the year... TURKEY DAY!!!

Since my "Gotta Dash" Project for last month's Unruly PaperArts Blogozine, I have sort of been on a CAS bender. I'm loving using up scraps of this and that, stamping a bit, coloring a bit and getting it done NOW! This festive card features one of my favorite Scribble Girl stamps** painted with markers applied using a water brush. This month's Unruly PaperArts issue is "Painted Perfection" so the watercolor effect adds a painterly touch to make the stamped image shine. I had just enough of my base paper and patterned paper to make a handful of these all in one sitting. To mimick the script in the patterned paper, I stamped a script stamp in brown ink on the solid cardstock - giving me a quick and easy DIY patterned paper that gives a little interest,though subtle. I even saved time of fussing over tearing edges by using my Fiskars Deckle edge scissors... snip snip and a perfect torn edge every time. If you have a quick minute, scroll down or CLICK HERE to jump to my post from yesterday which uses a few other of my scribble girl stamps** in another fall creation.I hope you enjoyed my project and that you are inspired to join us in this month's Reader's Art Quest. I would love to see what you create. Please leave me a comment with your link.

Happy Creating! Crossing my fingers that the weather man comes through on his prediction of a cold front coming way South this weekend... YAY! :) Sb**The stamps I refer to as SCRIBBLE GIRLS are from the American Art Stamp - Karen Stolper "Stick Chic" line. This line seems to have been discontinued as I am unable to find a source to link up.

WELCOME to the blog for sbartist (Susan M. Brown) - mixed media artist and graphic designer.I frequently lurk around in the dark creating art while all in the world are asleep. What will I dream up next...